UNCOVERED INTERVIEWS: Emily Benet

Thursday, 18 December 2014

Emily Benet's new novel The Temp was released in paperback yesterday. Emily, who gained a book deal with HarperCollins after The Temp became highly successful on Wattpad with over a million hits. Emily is also the author of Shop Girl Diaries and Short Stories for Busy Adults, and after hearing about The Temp being published, we couldn't wait to find out more!Tell us about your latest novel in 15 words or less.A broke temp finds a sack of bananas and decides to become a conceptual artist.

What inspired you to write The Temp?Like my main character, Amber, I've visited art shows where I've been baffled by how seriously some of the pieces have been taken. Some artists just to need to hang a dirty sock from the ceiling to attract a crowd. I think we live in a society where you can be famous for just about anything if you make enough noise about it. I thought, why can't a bored, broke temp take the world by storm with a sack of bananas, some spray paint and some friends to egg her on?

Where do you do most of your writing?I write in my bedroom. I've had the same £19 Ikea desk for about 10 years and it's the perfect shape, round-edged and wide! I don't know how people afford to write in coffee shops in London!What is your favourite book?That's an impossible question! It depends on my mood. I am very fond of Starter for Ten, as it really made me laugh.

Which part of The Temp did you enjoy writing the most?I had a giggle most of the way through. I did get a little stuck in the middle, but then I had an idea involving body paint... I won't say anymore.

Who is your favourite literary heroine?It has to be Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. Do you have any tips for readers who are looking to become published writers?Get your work out there. Start a blog. Test your work out on Wattpad. Don't be precious. Don't get stuck on one thing either. I've written full drafts of three books that I had to accept weren't going to work. Nothing is wasted. The more you write, the better you get!

Are you working on anything else at the moment and if so, can you tell us?I'm working on a new novel called #PleaseRetweet. It's about a young woman who runs the Twitter accounts belonging to celebrities who can't control themselves online. She tweets as if she were them. It gets messy as real life and virtual reality clash!

The Temp by Emily BenetTwenty-something Amber is fresh out of university with a degree she has no clue what to do with… so she temps in order to earn enough money to cover the cost of living the good life in London.While scrounging free wine from a wacky modern art gallery (her favourite life-hack) she looks at the ‘art’ and thinks ‘if they can do it, why not me?’. Enter a drop-dead gorgeous gallery promoter and a bunch of unlikely friends, including her housemate Egg (short for Egbert), to help – and hinder – her crazy idea to unleash spray painted bananas across the capital.Laugh out loud with this fun romantic comedy and follow Amber as she literally spray paints the town red – and blue – and yellow – and pink…